Low-Rent Tour of Boston's Financial District

From Dave "Moneybags" Brigham:

I worked in Boston's Financial District back in the good old days, when there were actually, you know, financial companies there. I took a few walks through there in recent months, but had no idea that the days of wing-tipped bankers and high-finance savants were over. According to a recent Boston Globe article, "The Financial District is becoming a tech district."

Regardless, there's still plenty of old-Boston architectural glitz and history among all the fleece-vested tech goobers evidently walking these streets. Here's some of what I found on my recent explorations. WARNING: prepare for a bumpy flight as I bounce from one place to another, with no rhyme or reason. Buckle up, sit back, relax and prepare to learn about the hidden history of yet another Boston neighborhood.

Completed in 1915 at 68 Devonshire Street, the Newport Building was the third in Boston to rise to at least 12 stories. Built by real estate executive Loren Towle, the Newport was named for the developer's hometown in New Hampshire. I'm not sure if this tile mosaic at one of the entrances is original.

The building is now known by the odd name Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall Boston.

Also on Devonshire Street is an outlet of the Calgary, Canada-based Elephant & Castle chain of British-style pubs.

The restaurant is located in 159-175 Devonshire, which is known as the Compton Building. The property dates to 1902.

Up the street, at the corner of Devonshire and Milk streets, is this fantastic facade.

This is 45 Milk Street, known as the International Trust Company Building. Built in 1893, it was enlarged in 1906.

Next is the Samuel Appleton Building at 1 Liberty Square.

Although it was built in 1926 , I guess this property was named for Samuel Appleton, a wealthy merchant and mill owner, who died in 1853.

Continuing with the doorway and facade theme (maybe this ride isn't so bumpy after all), below is the Unity Building on Devonshire Street.

Built in 1914, it is so named because, well, I'm not sure. I read the MACRIS file and it told me all sorts of things, such as the fact that upon its completion, according to a rental pamphlet, the building is "especially adapted for banking & other office purposes requiring large open spaces." It was occupied largely by lawyers, real estate firms, various building supply & construction related firms early on. But I couldn't ascertain where the name Unity came from. Just sounded good, I guess.

At 24 Federal Street, I spied this ornate doorway.

Built in 1921, 24 Federal Street is known as the Harris Forbes Building, named after a bond trading firm that was its first occupant.

I guess I'll just keep going with doors and entryways.

This is 50 Post Office Square, which was built in 1947 for the New England Telephone & Telegraph Company. That business merged with New York Telephone in 1984 to form NYNEX; I recall walking past this building in the 1990s when I worked in the area, and there being a big NYNEX sign on it. NYNEX eventually became part of Verizon. In this building, the laboratory in which the first telephone was built has been reconstructed, per Wikipedia.

Below is a shot of the whole building.

The Easton Building, below, is located next to the Old State House, on Devonshire Street.

Built in 1902, this Beaux Arts beauty was formerly the headquarters and visitor center of the Boston branch of the National Park Service. The building, which is now home to Boston Harbor Now and the Rian Immigrant Center, was named for the town in Massachusetts where was located the manufacturing operation of Oliver Ames & Son, for whom the building was erected.

OK, time for an opulent twofer.

On the left is 145 Congress Street, which is the backside of 42-60 Federal Street. Built in 1912, this property was originally part of the First National Bank. This building is now home to, among other tenants, the Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter, AAA Boston and Liberty Mutual.

On the right is the entrance to 55 Congress Street, once the headquarters of Fidelity Investments, and now part of a major redevelopment called Congress Square. I wrote about Congress Square earlier this year in a post about Liberty Square and a bit of the Financial District (see March 7, 2020, "Give Me Liberty Square...and the Financial District").

Below is the front entrance to 42-60 Federal Street.

Man, I didn't realize how many pictures I took of doors.

Currently home to Mediterranean restaurant Bonapita, 49 Franklin Street, above, has a fairly grand history, both in this building and one previously at this location. Built in 1935, this property was originally the St. Thomas More Oratory. "Sir Thomas More, venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist," per Wikipedia. "He was also a Chancellor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532." An oratory is a small chapel, often used for private worship. I have no idea what the interior of Bonapita looks like, but I hope some details from the oratory survive. The building was designed by Richard Shaw, who also designed the Hatch Shell on Boston's Esplanade.

From 1803-62, this site was home to the Holy Cross Church (later Cathedral), which was designed by -- who else? -- Charles Bulfinch. The house of worship was torn down to make way for commercial buildings. The new Cathedral of the Holy Cross stands in the South End, and was dedicated in 1875. Below is a plaque near Bonapita marking the spot of the original Holy Cross Church.

The church's founder, Jean-Louis Anne Madelain Lefebvre de Cheverus (say that five times fast; hell, say it one time slow) -- known as John Cheverus -- emigrated from France (via England) to Boston in 1796, per Wikipedia.

Cheverus lived nearby. The plaque above is on the exterior of 75-101 Federal Street, perhaps 150 yards from the former cathedral site. He returned to France in 1823 and died in 1836 at the age of sixty-eight.

On Purchase Street, at the eastern edge of the Financial District, sits the Consulate General of Brazil.

The consulate assists folks with visa, passports, customs clearance and more.

Below are two very cool buildings and one cold building.

In the foreground is 10 Liberty Square, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Known as the Codman Building, this property rose in 1874; the top two floors were added in the 1880s. The architects were John H. Sturgis and Charles Brigham. "Among the original tenants was John B. Callander, a dealer in glass ware and lamps," per MACRIS. "According to Whiting's survey of 1877...there was a dining saloon in the basement, a cigar store on the first floor, and the rest of the building was occupied by miscellaneous offices and sample rooms for cotton brokers and others....From the l890's to the 1910's, the building was occupied by Jones Brothers Granite Works, and from the 1880's to 1910's also housed the offices of the Cochrane Chemical Company (established 1849), importers of chemical dystuffs."

In the mid-ground is the State Mutual Insurance Company Building, aka 40-50 Congress Street, aka 35-43 Kilby Street. Built in 1902 for the insurance company that gives this property its historic name, this building was designed by the firm of Andrews, Jacques & Rantoul. The firm designed many Boston buildings, including the east and west wings of the Massachusetts State House.

In the background of the above photo is Exchange Place, which is a behemoth with a somewhat interesting history. "Built between 1981 and 1985, this 40-floor skyscraper incorporates part of the facade of its predecessor, the Boston Stock Exchange, which was completed in 1891. As part of an agreement with preservationists, the developers eventually agreed to also include the stock exchange's former staircase in the main lobby. Those are my very own words, from the June 17, 2019, post, "Stairs Exchanging Places".

Below is a cool detail from 31 Milk Street, a circa 1923 building that currently houses a post office on the ground floor, and office space in the 10 floors above.

I haven't been able to track down any history of this property, but that looks like a vault alarm box, so I'm guessing this place was built as a bank.

Below are two cool details from the John W. McCormack Post Office and Court House, in the heart of Post Office Square.

(Above an entrance.)

(Decorative covering.)

This 22-story Moderne tower dates to 1931. The post office that was here for decades, and which I frequented in the '90s when I worked nearby, moved to the building mentioned above. The court rooms were moved to a newer courthouse in the Seaport. Evidently this place is filled with federal offices of various types now. The building was eventually named for Boston-born John W. McCormack, who served terms in both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts State Senate before winning election to the United States House of Representatives. He became the 45th Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1962, per Wikipedia.

Below is the McCormack building.

Post Office Square would be just another boring walk-through neighborhood if it weren't for the amazing park in the middle.

Norman B. Leventhal Park is named for the co-founder of Beacon Construction Co. and former chairman of the Friends of Post Office Square. There is a cafe in the park, a few fountains, plenty of shade and, on beautiful days, people taking lunch breaks and walks with their kids and just enjoying the city. There is a parking garage underneath; previously there was an above-ground garage on the site.

Across Pearl Street from the park is The Langham Hotel, which, when I took this shot, was under renovation. It is slated to reopen in the fall, but who knows whether that will happen.

Built in 1922 as the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, this property was a Le Meridien Hotel from 1981 until 2003.

Just steps away, on the side of 12 Post Office Square (at the corner of Congress and Water streets) is a plaque marking the former site of 19th century anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator.

Founded at this corner in 1831 by William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator was a leading voice in the abolitionist movement. The newspaper moved from here in 1834, and the building burned in Boston's Great Fire of 1872. The current building, also known as 60-62 Congress Street, was erected in 1907 as the Hornblower and Weeks Building, per MACRIS, after the brokerage firm that was its initial tenant.

Now we come to a building where I once worked.

This is 75-101 Federal Street. I worked in the older building in the foreground; that's 75 Federal. The Art Deco building rose in 1929; I worked as a proofreader at an accounting firm that has since moved to the newer, taller 101 building, I believe. The building has amazing metalwork details.

And a cool old night-deposit vault.

As cool as 75-101 (the newer part dates to 1988) is, the nearby 160 Federal Street is perhaps the most amazing Art Deco structure in Boston.

Known as the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building, this masterpiece was built in 1928. Per MACRIS, it is a "[m]onumental structure architecturally significant as most intact Boston example of Art Deco skyscraper." This was the company's headquarters; factories were located elsewhere.

Hard as it is to believe, given the size, history and beauty of this place, there was a plan afoot a few decades ago to raze this place. "The owners wanted to tear the building down and build a new tower," per MACRIS. "Preservationists rallied to save the structure and the developers wound up not only keeping the building but restoring it and renaming it 'The Landmark.' 'The exterior and lobby have been faithfully restored and a new tower, 150 Federal Street was built, in 1988, next to the building and connected via a glass lobby."

(Entrance to 160 Federal Street. Damn!!)

Now let's move to Arch Street, and a large glass tower with partially preserved older buildings at its feet.

Looming in the background is 101 Arch Street, a 20-story tower that rose in 1988. The beautiful old building in the foreground was built in 1873, and may have also been known as 101 Arch Street. The address on MACRIS lists this whole complex, which includes facades and parts of other small buildings, as 91-101 Arch Street. This High Victorian Gothic building was erected right after Boston's Great Fire of 1872, which destroyed 776 buildings in the downtown area. The original tenants "were Barnes, Ward & Co, jobbers of woolens, and Leland, Rice & Co, jobbers of ready-made clothing," per MACRIS. There is now a Chilean restaurant on the ground floor.

The above building sits to the right of a newfangled glass entryway to the tower. On the left of that entrance is the building below. Also pictured: that fancy atrium.

I love the contrast in architectural styles here, and the reflection, too. This building also rose in 1873; its historic name is the H. B. Wells Cotton Batting and Twine Company building. Seriously. Other early tenants included wig-making company Adams & Cary and Thompson & Leavitt, jobbers of ready-made clothing, per MACRIS. Other tenants over the years included a hat maker and a shoe repair shop, before the building was leased by St. Anthony's Shrine. Run by the Franciscan friars of Holy Name Province, the shrine moved across the street into its own building in 1955. The friars still own the old batting and twine building; it is/was used to house members of the holy order.

How's this for a lantern?

It's located on the exterior of Webster Bank, at 100 Franklin Street. Built in 1903, this wonderful property is known as the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company Building.

Banks do love their fancy details, don't they?

This is on the outside wall of the Boston Private Bank & Trust Company (which may have moved) at 10 Post Office Square. The property was built in 1923 as the Atlantic National Bank Building.

OK, time for an artsy shot of three very different buildings on the northern edge of the Financial District.

On the left is 25-29 State Street (aka the Second Brazer Building), which dates to 1897 and occupies the site of the first meeting house in Boston, erected in 1632, per Wikipedia. In the middle is 1 State Street (aka the State Street Building), which dates to 1925. Finally, on the right, is One Boston Place, a 41-story tower also known as the Boston Company Building and which was erected in 1970.

These buildings tower over the Old State House, below.

Built in 1713, "it was the seat of the Massachusetts General Court until 1798, and is one of the oldest public buildings in the United States," per Wikipedia. There is a subway station in the basement.

Swinging wildly to the southern fringe, abutting Chinatown, we land on the Bedford Block on the corner of Bedford and Lincoln streets.

"Built in 1875 in a style promoted by John Ruskin called Venetian Gothic," per Wikipedia, this building's style is also known as Ruskinian Gothic.

"It was designed by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears for Henry and Francis Lee as a retail shoe center in an area that had been destroyed by the Great Boston Fire of 1872," per Wikipedia. "The building was added to the National Historic Register in 1979. The Bedford Block's exterior is constructed of polychromatic bands of New Brunswick red granite, Tuckahoen marble, and pressed terra-cotta panels....It was the first building after the Great Fire to use New Brunswick red granite as a material."

It is quite stunning.

Back over on Franklin Street, I spied three cool buildings, one of which I kinda short-shrifted.

On the left is the Wigglesworth Building, which was built in 1873 and named for the property owner, attorney Edward Wigglesworth. Per MACRIS, "Historically, it is significant as the location from 1876 to 1900 of the Abram French crockery company. In the middle is the W.L. Strong & Company Building, which, like its neighbor, is a post-Great Fire building from 1873. It is named for a dry goods/garment industry company. On the right is the Columbian National Life Insurance Company Building, which dates to 1912.

I'm gonna wrap up this tour with what I'm calling the black eye of the Financial District.

Located on High Street, right across from an entrance to the aforementioned 160 Federal Street, this place has been vacant for years. It was most recently a hardware store. The building, which has been for sale for quite some time, dates to 1873, in case you couldn't guess. Got a nice history, as well, although since it's squeezed between two much bigger buildings, I can't imagine what it's future holds. "The original occupant of 51-53 High Street was Chester Guild, Hide & Leather Machine Co....," per Wikipedia. "By 1887, he was joined by H.H. Read & Co., split leathers, etc." This location isn't far from the Leather District, which I profiled earlier this year (see February 22, 2020, "Hell Bent for the Leather District").

Maybe somebody will build a pencil tower here. Anyway, thanks for joining me on this long tour of a Boston neighborhood with some really fabulous architecture and history.